, 1887-08-26

Paid Also to the Nobles-A Curious
Mark of Grade.
An occasion like the jubilee brings out
very sharply the singular social position
of the royal caste Of Europe. That caste,
which consists essentially of two families
or clans, all the Catholic and all the Prot
estant royalties being more or less closely
related either by marriage or by blood, is
growing numerous, and tends to become
"A minute but closely knit aristocracy,
claiming, and in certain ways securing, a
position greatly above that Of the Euro
pcan nobility. The precedence of its
members, besides being uncontested, as
that OF no noble is, is European instead of
local, and is accompanied, and, as 1t were,
marked, by n d%eferential and even slayish
respect, which was once paid also to the
mobiles, but is now in their case slowly
but p%erceptibly dying away. No noble is
now beyond the law, as some of the
princes, ut least-e. g., the heads of the
medintized families-undoubtedly are.
CURIOUS MARK OF GRADE.
1t is n curious mark Of grade, but it is
a very real one, that on the continent of
Europe n prince is the only man except a
priest who Cannot be compelled to accept
Il challenge. He has theoretically no equal
except in his own caste, and even imperi-
Gus military opinion acknowledges his ex-
emption. Certain forms too are observed
in receiving and in addressing ROYALTIES
which are not maintained for any other
human beings, and they are waited on
even by mobiles as gentlemen would be
ashamed to wait on the member of any
other class. Though, as a rule, not
wealthy, and undistinguished either by
intellectual ability or service to the states
to which they belong, they are everywhere
treated rs "the first, " and maintain, with
out exciting envy, an exclusiveness as
rigid AS that Of Indian Brahmins or pious
Jews. They marry only among them
selves; they claim and enforce u special
marriage privilege, which is, in fact, a
right TO have their recognized concubines
acknowledged by society; and though the
fortunes some of them possess are dis
tributed with a strange inequality, and
they begin to be solicitous for wealth, yet
they resist with immovable tenacity what
must be the severe temptation to absorb
the great heircsses of European society.
y Colonna may marry the daughter of
the greatest Of American money makers,
and the derogation is forgiven for the
gain; but the poorest Hohenzollern or
Bourbon may not stOop to the most beauti-
full or accomplished lady of many millions.
They begin more and more to associate
only with each other, roaming over
Europe to avoid the tedium of a too con-
AlfiNNNAl HbtlNl tlIClts anu NJ I'LL ceremonial
functions they supersede alike the MOBILES
and the statesmen. In the arrangements
for the jubilee, for example, 'the princes"
known and unknown, illustrious and OBJ
sCure, were all alike in front, and the
great mobiles and high placed p~ersonages
Of the realm, soldiers or statesmen or
diplomats, were all relegated to the crowd.
No noble except Lord Lorne appeared in
the procession as an invited guest, and the
ayanptfnn nnlu rnn1a tha Vt,1n ,,orn 49,
spicuous.
A EVERYWHERE FIRST.
Courts settle rank in Europe, and the
courts unanimously insist that the de-
scendants of royalty, ever If dethroned,
shall count everywhere first. Not only
Will the kings not marry, legally at all
events, outside the clan, but they exert a
steady and effective pressure in favor of
restricting all thrones when vacant to the
clan alone. Nothing can be more absurd
in theory than for a new state like Bel
GUM or Bulgaria, which needs an organ-
lzing chief, q statesman or a soldier,
to choose n prince who may or may
not be capable of ruling; but the
statesmen know well that If they step out
sic the clan European sympathy will
be forfeited or, in palmer words, that
the sovereigns who move armies will
think they are dealing with disagreeable
upstairs. BernadOtte only Kept his
throne at the price of turning on his own
country-where he is still regarded rs a
traitor-and King Milan, the only mem
Der Of an obscure family with n recognized
crown, will probably lose for want of the
determined protection that, had he been
born within the caste, would have been
afforded him. That protection was not,
1t is true, granted TO Alexander of Batten-
berg; but then, the B~attenbergs are hardly
royal, and protection to him might have
precipitated the gravest of all wars. The
moment he was gone, the Bulgarians ex-
amined Europe with n microscope to find
an acceptable prince; but they knew per-
fectly well hat their choice was re-
stricted to those whom the sovereigns re-
cogniZe as socially their equals.
1t is that recognition, not birth alone,
which gives the p~rincely caste its unique
and almost ineNplicable place in Europe;
and as long rs that recognition continues
so long will that place be maintained. In
other words, the social privilege of the
princely caste will probably endure as
long as the great monarchies-a period
which may be ages, or ma in spite of APP
pearances, be shortened to decades
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